Margaret Thatcher certainly had an impact on female Labour MPs. On the day of
her funeral, Cathy Newman collates the views of Harriet Harman, Dame
Tessa Jowell and Diane Abbott on the Iron Lady.

Three years after Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first woman prime minister, a female Labour colleague, who'd entered Parliament at a by-election, had a burning question for her. With the summer holidays approaching, what were working mothers to do about childcare, and was it time to consider holiday play-schemes?

The MP putting the question, Harriet Harman recalls that "there was jeering, from Thatcher and her side, but also jeering from our side. People were like, 'what's she talking about? That's not politics!'"

Now deputy Labour leader, Ms Harman was, according to her husband, Labour MP Jack Dromey, pretty upset when she came home that night. To get to your feet and be humiliated by colleagues, including the first woman - herself a working mum - to make it to Number Ten, felt galling. But after pondering how to respond, Ms Harman's considered response consisted of two words: "Damn it!"

It was the sexism of the Commons at that point which crystallised Ms Harman's determination to ensure women were better represented in Parliament.

Given the deputy Labour leader's recollection of Baroness Thatcher's somewhat unsisterly response to her first Commons question, it's perhaps surprising that Ms Harman decided to attend today's funeral, particularly when other Labour women - Sally Bercow, for example - have declined on political grounds.

But friends say Ms Harman felt strongly that, as Labour's most senior woman, she needed to attend out of respect. Ed Miliband's office has, I'm told, insisted Labour takes a dignified, non-partisan approach to Baroness Thatcher's death. One source said attendance was subject to a virtual "three line whip" from the leader's office.

But there's no denying the strength of feeling on Labour's side more than two decades after the former prime minister left office.

Dame Tessa Jowell told me: "I can remember most Saturdays in the 80s marching against, campaigning against Mrs Thatcher's latest attack on local government, local communities."

Labour's Baroness Helena Kennedy said: "People do still feel the impact powerfully. There were swathes of people who were put out of work."

Diane Abbott, herself the first black woman to join the Commons, complained this morning about the costs of the funeral. But even she's admitted that when she first became an MP in 1987, she used to "marvel" at Baroness Thatcher's elegance, set against the "serried ranks of grey male Tories".

Serried ranks of grey males from her own party too, as Ms Harman has pointed out. She was one of just 10 female Labour MPs when she joined.

As Lady Thatcher's response to the childcare question revealed, she wasn't interested in changing the male-dominated status quo. Yes, she'd made it to the top, but, say Labour's women, she showed no special interest in ensuring other women followed in her footsteps. She promoted fewer female MPs than her male predecessors, for example.

"When I got into Parliament Labour's focus was on increasing the number of women MPs. Mrs Thatcher never felt any responsibility or was never persuaded of the case that that would be good for the country," Dame Tessa recalls.

She and Ms Harman supported all-women short lists, and Labour managed to get a record number of women elected.

And the irony of that is that when it comes to gender politics Britain's first woman prime minister missed an opportunity. Downing Street's current incumbent has admitted he's failed to appoint enough women to Cabinet. So it looks like the Iron Lady's shortcoming is in danger of being repeated by David Cameron.